Why  is  More 
Money  Needed 
for  Foreign 
Missions  ? 

By  THOMAS  S.  BARBOUR 

FOREIGN  BECHETART 


American  Baptist  Missionary  Union 
Boston.  Massachusetts 


NVhy  is  More  Money  Needed 
for  Foreign  Missions  ? 

The  question  is  timely.  At  the  close  of 
last  March  a  great  deliverance  came  to 
the  missionary  interests  of  American 
Baptists  of  the  North.  Great  debts  were  lifted 
and  the  peril  of  disastrous  retrenchment  was 
averted.  There  is  danger  that  this  deliverance 
may  be  thought  of  as  assuring  to  these  interests 
an  ideal  prosperity.  The  Budget  of  the 
present  year  is  rightfully  recognized  as  repre¬ 
senting  a  first  demand  upon  denominational 
loyalty.  But  if  this  were  to  be  regarded  as 
adequately  presenting  needs  in  the  work  of 
our  missionary  organizations  the  mistake 
would  be  great  and  deplorable. 

Appropriations  vs.  Opportunities 
No  one  who  has  followed  the  work  .of  the 
Missionary  Union  will  need  to  be  told  that  it 
has  long  been  held  to  a  basis  far  below  its 
true  possibilities  and  demands.  The  standard 
regarded  in  the  appropriations  made  has  been 
that  of  immediate  and  imperative  necessity. 
The  plan  for  adoption  of  a  joint  budget  found 
this  condition,  and  its  basis  of  estimated 
expenditures  was  confessedly  the  same  to 
which  the  work  had  so  long  been  restricted. 
The  adoption  of  such  a  basis  in  the  initiation 
of  the  plan  was  wise,  but  the  need  for  advance 
upon  it  was  urgent. 

In  presenting  their  estimates  for  the  present 
year  to  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  North¬ 
ern  Baptist  Convention,  the  representatives 

2 


of  the  Missionary  Union  wrote  as  follows: 
“  The  Executive  Committee  would  still 
further  express  their  conviction  that  the 
figures  of  this  preliminary  schedule,  based 
upon  a  stringent  effort  to  hold  appropria¬ 
tions  to  the  lowest  practicable  basis,  represent 
a  painfully  inadequate  approximation  to  a 
just  provision  for  the  work  in  our  mission 
fields.  The  provision  made  seems  to  the 
Committee  scarcely  to  touch  the'  fringes  of 
the  work  which  divine  providence  is  indicating 
as  the  due  share  of  our  Baptist  churches  in 
the  great  movement  for  evangelization  of 
the  non-Christian  world.” 

Increasing  Need  Inevitable 
The  demand  for  continually  increasing 
offerings  is  inherent  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
missionary  enterprise.  The  districts  first 
occupied  by  Christian  workers  are  sur¬ 
rounded  by  vast  regions  destitute  of  Christian 
influences.  Each  station  becomes  an  ex¬ 
panding  work.  Missionary  work  enters,  as 
it  were,  at  the  apex  of  a  triangle;  the  area 
broadens  as  the  work  advances.  The  basis 
of  bare  necessity  is  farther  and  farther  re¬ 
moved  from  an  adequate  response  to  op¬ 
portunity.  The  pressure  upon  the  mission¬ 
ary,  through  his  unwillingness  that  the  life- 
giving  streams  for  which  channels  have  been 
opened  at  great  cost  shall  be  lost  in  the  sands, 
his  sense  of  the  irrecoverableness  of  unused 
opportunities,  is  increasingly  powerful.  The 
marvelous  changes  now  swiftly  transforming 
the  East  intensify  the  embarrassment  of  the 
situation.  They  affect  the  status  and  the 


task  of  Christian  missions.  Opportunities 
throng,  but  what  is  done  must  be  done 
quickly. 

The  Need  of  Men 

There  is  need  for  more  men  in  our  mission 
fields.  A  few  only  have  been  sent  from  year 
to  year,  and  sickness  and  death  have  done 
their  work.  The  need  cries  aloud  from 
almost  every  section.  Appeals  just  now  at 
hand  powerfully  illustrate  this.  In  Japan 
sad  inroads  upon  the  mission  company  have 
been  made  by  death  and  illness.  In  South 
India  almost  every  man  is  doing  “  double 
duty  ”  and  in  some  instances  three  stations 
are  under  the  care  of  a  single  worker.  In 
Assam  “  recruits  of  the  past  three  or  four 
years  have  not  filled  the  places  left  vacant  by 
enforced  withdrawals.”  In  Africa  Dr.  Sims, 
whose  work  as  physician  and  mission  treasurer 
has  been  of  inestimable  value,  cannot  leave 
his  station  though  his  furlough  is  long  overdue 
because  no  one  is  at  hand  to  take  his  place. 
In  China  illustration  of  the  lack  in  men  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  an  offer  of  $2,000  for 
erection  of  a  hospital,  made  and  earnestly 
urged  upon  the  Union  by  Chinese  citizens 
at  Hopo  in  vSouth  China,  could  not  be 
accepted  because  the  calls  for  available  men 
for  indispensable  work  are  so  greatly  over¬ 
taxing  resources. 

It  is  an  underestimate  to  say  that  forty 
new  families  should  be  placed  at  once  in  our 
mission  fields  and  that  one  hundred  would 
be  required  for  an  adequate  improvement 
of  existing  opportunities.  The  appeal  to 
Christian  young  men  and  women  to  consider 

4 


the  claims  of  missionary  service  is  powerful, 
but  equipment,  transportation  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  the  needed  recruits  will  require  a 
great  increase  in  missionary  offerings. 

There  is  great  need  of  increase  in  the 
provision  made  for  the  missionary’s  work. 
Additions  to  the  number  of  native  workers 
and  advance  in  provision  for  missionary 
touring  are  indispensable  if  the  precious 
investment  of  missionary  life  is  to  count  as  it 
should. 

Evangelism  and  Education 

The  direct  work  of  evangelism  should  be 
greatly  reinforced.  The  sudden  opening  of 
great  opportunities  in  educational  and  medi¬ 
cal  work  compels  diversion  to  these  vital 
interests  of  a  part  of  the  meagre  supply  of 
missionary  recruits,  and  work  of  a  dis¬ 
tinctively  evangelistic  type  is  weakened. 
Yet  this  work  was  never  so  important  as  now 
because  never  before  offered  so  open  and  un¬ 
bounded  a  field  for  its  extension. 

The  opportunity  in  educational  work  is 
without  parallel  in  the  history  of  Christian 
missions.  It  invites  to  the  Christianizing 
of  the  educational  ideals  of  great  peoples,  the 
training  of  teachers  for  their  schools,  and  thus 
to  perpetuation  of  Christian  influences  in 
their  life  through  all  coming  generations. 
Particularly  as  relates  to  China,  the  era 
must  be  known  forever  as  one  in  which 
commanding  influence  upon  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  great  empire  was  proffered  to 
Christian  churches  of  the  West.  By  our 
acceptance  or  refusal  of  the  opportunity, 

5 


our  sagacity,  not  to  say  our  Christian  fidelity, 
will  be  judged.  Commanding  centers  have 
been  chosen  by  the  Union  at  strategic  points 
in  China  and  in  British  India.  The  college 
and  seminary  supported  at  Shanghai  by 
northern  and  Southern  Baptists,  the  school 
about  to  be  opened  at  Hankow  by  our 
mission  in  conjunction  with  that  of  the 
London  Society,  the  institution  established 
at  ChentuUn  West  China  by  the  Union  in 
cooperation  with  three  other  mission  bodies, 
are  offered  a  service  indefinitely  great. 
But  these  schools  have  only  the  beginnings 
of  equipment.  All  will  require  large  provision, 
of  men  and  money  if  the  service  opened  to 
them  is  to  be  accepted.  In  Japan  a  notable 
opportunity  is  afforded  by  the  union  work 
of  northern  and  southern  Baptists  in  theo¬ 
logical  instruction,  and  the  call  for  immediate 
expansion  in  academic,  and  possibly  in 
collegiate  work,  is  pronounced  There  is 
need  of  additional  teachers  and  a  suitable 
building  at  Jaro  in  the  Philippine  Islands, 
where  the  work  of  the  school  is  already  of 
splendid  influence.  An  urgent  need  in  educa¬ 
tional  work  illustrated  at  Mandalay,  Bassein 
and  Moulmein  in  Burma,  at  Kurnool  and 
Nellore  in  South  India,  and  at  each  of  the  larger 
stations  in  the  great  fields  of  China  is  that 
of  appointment  of  American  principals  for 
leadership  in  work  of  the  academic  grade. 
The  policy  has  the  strong  approval  both  of 
mission  bodies  and  of  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee  of  the  Union,  and  is  obviously  of  vital 
importance,  yet  its  adoption  has  thus  far  been 
prohibited  by  the  inadequacy  of  resources. 


In  connection  with^  educational  interests  a 
new  form  of  work  of  great  promise  has 
developed — that  of  the  Christian  dormitory 
in  which  students  of  governmental  institu¬ 
tions  are  offered  a  home.  In  Tokyo,  for 
example,  this  opportunity  is  afforded  under 
conditions  which  guarantee  favorable  access 
to  the  great  student  body  of  Waseda  Uni¬ 
versity, — an  institution  now  wonderfully  open 
to  Christian  influences. 

Medical  Work  and  Mission  Buildings 

There  is  need  in  medical  work.  Physicians 
are  needed  both  at  hospitals  already  opened 
and  in  centers  where  their  work  is  urgently 
solicited.  In  medical  work,  too,  as  in  that 
of  general  education,  a  new  and  unique 
opportunity  is  given.  The  future  physicians 
of  China  may  be  trained  in  Christian  medical 
schools.  In  East,  Central  and  West  China 
we  should  not  fail  to  participate  in  this  work. 

The  need  of  new  buildings  is  very  great  in 
each  of  our  mission  fields — the  need  of 
mission  houses,  school  buildings,  hospitals 
and  chapels.  The  list  of  property  needs, 
definitely  considered  and  approved  by  com¬ 
mittees,  upon  the  field  and  by  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Union,  reaches  an  aggregate 
of  $250,000.  Not  less  than  $400,000  is 
required  at  once  for  an  adequate  care  for 
property  interests. 

Following  up  Opportunity 

There  is  need  of  extension  of  the  work  in 
our  mission  fields  to  points  immediately 

7 


related  to  the  work  already  accomplished,  to 
the  great  unoccupied  sections  reaching  out 
from  stations  in  Japan,  particularly  in  the 
Hokkaido  region, — to  strategic  points  inter¬ 
mediate  between  widely  separated  stations 
in  East  China  and  South  China, — ^to  tribes 
of  Assam  long  inaccessible  but  now  open  to 
Christian  agencies, — to  destitute  districts  in 
the  Philippine  Islands.  In  the  Kengtung 
State,  in  northern  Burma,  the  miraculous 
results  already  realized  compel  the  following 
up  of  the  initial  work.  The  nine  thousand 
converts  must  have  Christian  guidance,  and 
the  kindred  races  extending  into  West 
China  must  not  be  denied  the  bread  of  life. 
The  position  of  these  peoples,  races  of  excep¬ 
tional  promise,  is  of  thrilling  appeal  as  they 
await  their  place  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
The  people  of  hundreds  of  villages  are  known 
as  the  “  Was  with  the  changed  hearts  ” 
through  their  acceptance  of  the  strange 
traditions  which  prepared  the  Lahu  people 
for  their  swift  reception  of  the  gospel.  This 
required  extension  of  work  is  not  an  occupying 
of  new  fields  in  the  proper  sense — it  is  the 
following  out  of  plans  represented  in  the 
existing  work,  the  legitimate  crowning  of 
past  labors. 

Other  demands  involving  advance  to 
lands  as  yet  unreached  are  forcing  them¬ 
selves  upon  the  attention  of  thoughtful 
men.  Some  of  these  have  been  brought 
powerfully  to  the  notice  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  of  the  Union.  The  claims  of  the 
Sudan  in  Africa  in  particular  are  regarded 
as  so  commanding  that  the  Executive  Com- 

8 


mittee  of  the  Union  are  instructed  by  the 
Board  of  Managers  to  appoint  at  once  a 
commission  for  investigation  of  conditions  in 
this  field. 

The  World’s  Claim 

It  is  apparent  that  no  review  of  the  claims 
of  the  work  of  Christian  missions  in  the 
present  day  can  be  complete  which  fails  to 
recognize  the  duty  of  participation  by  all 
Christian  bodies  in  the  effort  now  enlisting 
wide  attention, — that  of  giving  the  Gospel 
at  the  earliest  possible  time  to  all  peoples  of 
the  earth.  The  motto,  “  The  Evangelization 
of  the  World  in  this  Generation,”  can 
no  longer  be  ^thought  to  represent  undue 
youthful  ardor.  Christian  laymen  are  widely 
recognizing  that  its  appeal  to  intelligent, 
conscientious  Christian  manhood  is  irre¬ 
sistible.  There  can  indeed  be  no  excuse  for 
indifference  to  this  simple  noble  ideal  that 
will  not  shrivel  if  brought  to  the  test  of 
God’s  love  for  every  human  soul,  and  the 
immeasurable  depth  of  the  human  needs 
which  must  remain  unmet  except  as  it  is  met 
in  Christ. 

The  call  of  the  present  day  in  the  wonderful 
success  of  Christian  missions,  in  the  new 
conditions  inviting  advance,  is  of  intense 
solemnity;  yet  it  may  well  awaken  con¬ 
gratulation  and  rejoicing.  God  is  inviting 
us  to  acceptance  of  a  supreme  privilege  and 
honor.  Would  it  not  be  an  unspeakable 
blunder,  as  well  as  a  dreadful  recreancy,  if 
any  Christian  man  were  content  to  live 
selfishly  in  such  a  day? 

9 


1  £d.-20  M*Jan.  ’10. 


